There's the power of social media. Then there's the power of celebrity social media. Martha Stewart demonstrated both on Friday when she went on a tirade against Apple on the micro-blogging service.

Apparently, Stewart's iPad shattered. No one would be happy after watching her iconic tablet crack but Stewart may have been more than a little upset, given that it was a personal gift from the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Instead of just buying a new one or even taking it to the Apple Store for a repair, Stewart let her fingers do the talking -- on Twitter. She tweeted: "I just dropped my iPad on the ground and shattered two glass corners. What to do? Does one call Apple to come and pick it up or do I take it in?"

"Pissed Off" and "Upset"

About two hours later, at 8:49 a.m., she tweeted again: "I am still waiting for an apple rep to come pick up my IPad. No action yey.(sic)" By 1:29 p.m., Stewart was seemingly growing impatient. She tweeted, "Maybe I have a good entrepreneurial idea? Apple Now? Like same day delivery from Amazon? I think I am on to something. Same day fixit!!!"

Then, finally, at 6:29 p.m., she wrote, "So is it time to put out the fires and admit I was just pissed off at the fact my precious ipad shattered and I wanted to make light of it??" Apparently, Stewart's tweets upset Apple's public relations team, to which she replied, "i cannot believe that Apple Public Relations is mad at me for tweeting about my Ipad and how to get it fixed! steve jobs gave it to me!"

The Twitter rant goes on and on. Stewart went on to say, for example, that she wished she could explain everything on Twitter about the broken iPad, the stolen iPhone, the silly joke about her repairs and her frustration. But she said since that's impossible she will "deal with it all silently and hope that Apple will fix everything so I can function again with proper tools."

But Stewart didn't stop there. She continued by talking "turkey." She said iPads are addictive, awesome and expensive and that the glass should be unbreakable, even though the iPad works great with cracked corners. But, she added, the cracked glass is sharp and can cut. "I was just upset that I (someone) was clumsy and let the iPad fall out of the car. To fix is time," she tweeted in conclusion.

Jobs Would Have Fixed It

We asked Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group, for his take on the drama. He told us Apple should have moved quickly to get her a new iPad and avoid all the PR backlash. He called Apple penny-wise and pound foolish.

"She would have just been happy with a new iPad. She's a celebrity. Corralling somebody in Martha Stewart's class probably isn't going to be possible," Enderle said. "They should have given her a call and told her a new iPad would be there in 30 minutes."

Historically, Enderle said, Apple handled these sorts of things elegantly and quietly, which is why no one ever heard about a celebrity's broken iPad. But since Jobs' departure, many people in the company have left and taken their skills with them.

"These mistake are becoming far more common. It just reflects that this is not Steve Jobs' Apple. At the end of the day, if this was Steve Jobs' Apple he would have called Martha Stewart and told her he would send her another one in 30 minutes. It would have been over. But Cook doesn't seem to be engaged here and the PR guys not containing the damage."

rob enderle has made a career out of being completely wrong. check out some of his past predictions to see for yourself. his most recent good one was saying that blackberry was going to come back (1/2012). now blackberry is up for sale after losing $1B last quarter. good job, rob.

Equality:

Posted: 2013-09-28 @ 11:26am PT

Apple did the right thing. It should not baby sit any customer in such a situation. Stewart's actions speak for themselves. Not only she refused to take responsibility for her own faults, she also whined about it in public and exposes an unrealistic sense of entitlement. She is entitled, like every other Apple customer, to walk into the next Apple store and ask for a repair. Moreover, with all the money she has, if she absolutely needs instant gratification she can buy a new iPad to use while hers is being repaired. Apple is quite good about transfering user's accounts and data to a new device.

Nessman:

Posted: 2013-09-27 @ 4:10pm PT

This is such bull ... What a spoiled brat, who the hell does this law breaker think she is?

JG:

Posted: 2013-09-27 @ 2:25pm PT

Martha Stewart is still relevant? Cook is engaged where he needs to be.

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